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When
Howard Hughes built the Spruce Goose Aeroplane back in 1947, the
Hughes Aircraft facility consisted of a few airplane hangars plunked
down on the Playa Vista property in Culver City, CA. Now part
of Steven Spielberg's well-known Dreamworks production facility,
the site has grown to include more than 20 redwoodand metal hangars.
This National Historic Landmark recently underwent an exterior
restoration that included completely stripping multiple layers
of lead-based paint prior to repainting. AC & S Abatement Contractors,
headquartered in Phoenix, handled the stripping and repainting.
According to AC & S Construction Mananger Don Rigerio,
the layered paint had never before been stripped to the substrate.
He estimated the paint to be about 30 ml thick. "The hangars are
both redwood and metal," noted Rigerio, "and we wanted a chemical
paint stripper that would work well on both without damaging either
the  soft
wood or the metal. We also wanted a product that was in tune with
the environment, and that did contain hazardous chemicals or flammable
solvents." Five manufacturers of paint removal products were invited
to conduct patch tests of their products.
Peel Away 7, manufactured by Dumond Chemicals, Inc., outperformed
the competition, even though it does not contain methylene chloride,
MEK or the highly flammable solvents commonly foundin paint removal
products.
The AC & S crew used airless spray equipment to apply
the Peel Away paste, then covered it with the fibrous laminated
Peel Away cloth, which controls evaporation by keeping the paste
and paint in a dampstate throughout the removal process while
containing minute lead dust particles. After dwelling for 24 hours,
the paper was pulled back, and the still-wet paste and paint were
easily hand scraped from the surface, with the debris placed in
55-gallon drums for disposal. Other than a poly ground covertocatch
debris, no other containment was necessary. On-site monitoring
for lead dust was performed throughout the project, with results
falling well within the acceptable range. Rigerio reported absolutely
no damage to the redwood and metal substrates. 40,0000 square
feet were stripped using Peel Away 7 in less than 10 weeks.  While
citing its performance as a key factor in his selection of Peel
Away 7, Rigerio also noted that disposal costs were dramatically
less than those associated with products containing hazardous
chemicals or solvents.
Peel Away 7 is a unique, safe system for removing
paint and chemically-resistant coatings. Specially formulated
to remove oil/latex paints, it will also remove almost all chemically
resistant coatings, and is designed for use on a variety of substrates,
including wood, brick, stone, plaster,metal, fiberglass, graphite
and steel. Headquartered in New York, Dumond Chemicals, Inc. manufactures
a full line of restoration and paint-removal products for commercial
and industrial use.
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